Share a comment

If pleasure promises the world yet leaves you empty, Solomon’s journal feels uncomfortably current. We walk through Ecclesiastes 2–5 and trace a journey from chasing laughter and wine to discovering why contentment, friendship, and sincere worship hold more weight than any quick fix. The heart of the message is simple and searching: without God at the center, good things fade into noise; with God, ordinary moments become gifts that carry real joy.

We start with Solomon’s candid experiment—testing comedy, drink, and self-focused achievement—and the stark verdict of vanity. Then we widen the lens to time itself: the small dash between our first and last day, with seasons to plant and to harvest, to mourn and to dance, to keep silence and to speak. Rather than slip into cynicism, we lean into the claim that God makes everything fitting in its time, even when we cannot map the threads. That clarity awakens an ache for forever—eternity set in the human heart—which explains why our biggest wins still feel incomplete and points us toward meaning that outlives the moment.

From there, we turn practical. Better one handful with quiet contentment than two hands clenched with toil. Two are better than one, and a threefold cord is not quickly broken—friendship, prayer, and shared resilience beat lonely ambition every time. We close with a sober word on worship: guard your steps, keep your vows, and trade self-made dreams for God’s will. When we receive our work, daily bread, and limits as gifts, God grants the power to enjoy them. That kind of joy doesn’t erase hardship, but it steadies the soul and brightens the dash.

If this conversation helps you reframe your season, share it with a friend, subscribe for more, and leave a review with the one handful you’re ready to choose today.

Support the show

Share a comment

A seasoned fighter pilot’s night mission is more than a gripping story—it’s a compass for the moments when life tilts and you can’t trust your senses. We open with that razor-edge image and follow it into the life of Solomon, a king who began with blazing clarity and drifted into darkness before turning back. The question isn’t whether you’re smart or successful; it’s what gauges you trust when the horizon disappears.

We walk through the arc of Solomon’s story: a divine blank check answered with “wisdom,” the bright years of Proverbs and a golden temple, and the slow turn toward divided loves and bored ambition. Ecclesiastes becomes his recovered journal, a field report from “under the sun” that names the ache: vapor, repetition, the lure of newness that isn’t new. Solomon spies out learning, labor, pleasure, and legacy, only to find that when the Giver is ignored, the gifts dissolve in your hands. The line that lingers—what is crooked cannot be made straight, and what is lacking cannot be counted—calls for a realism our age resists.

But the realism is hopeful. If life under the sun is not enough, we can re-center above the sun. We talk about remembering the Creator in youth, why “vanity” means vapor rather than ego, and how Scripture functions like an instrument panel calibrated to reality when emotions, headlines, or habits blur our view. For skeptics, the hollowness you feel is a helpful alarm, not a verdict. For believers, there’s a path back: open the Word, name the drift, realign your course, and recover joy with roots deeper than novelty.

If this conversation helps you see the gauges more clearly, share it with a friend who’s flying through fog, subscribe for more wisdom-rich journeys, and leave a review with the one idea you’re taking into your week. Your story might help someone else pull up in time.

The Christian's Compass is a companion study guide that corresponds to each of these lessons along The Wisdom Journey. Download a copy for free, or cover the cost of printing and shipping and we'll mail you a booklet.

Learn More: https://www.wisdomonline.org/mp/the-christians-compass

Support the show

Share a comment

A mother’s voice can carry a lifetime of lessons, and this conversation brings that wisdom into sharp focus. We begin with kitchen-table memories and a few well-earned laughs, then turn to Proverbs 31, where a mother’s counsel to her son unfolds with striking clarity. Her first charge is bracing: don’t give your strength to destructive desires, and don’t let alcohol blur the judgment that protects the vulnerable. These aren’t abstract warnings; they are born from the wreckage that unchecked appetite can leave behind, especially in leadership.

From there we explore the famed portrait of the virtuous woman, not as a crushing checklist but as a poetic vision of wisdom embodied. She buys fields, plants vineyards, turns craft into commerce, plans for winter, and opens her hands to the poor. The text dignifies both domestic and public work, showing how prudence, industry, and compassion can thrive together. Far from glamorizing burnout, it champions purpose: effort aimed at service, foresight aligned with generosity, and excellence anchored in reverence for God.

We also consider reputation and influence. The husband known in the gates stands taller because of her integrity, a reminder that private character shapes public credibility. Beauty makes an appearance, but only to be put in its place. Charm can mislead. Beauty passes. Fear of the Lord endures. That’s the throughline—character over image, substance over sparkle, legacy over moment. By the end, we’re invited to set guardrails around desire and drink, steward our resources with wisdom, and build what time cannot erode. If this conversation resonates, subscribe, share it with a friend, and leave a review with the one principle you plan to practice this week.

The Christian's Compass is a companion study guide that corresponds to each of these lessons along The Wisdom Journey. Download a copy for free, or cover the cost of printing and shipping and we'll mail you a booklet.

Learn More: https://www.wisdomonline.org/mp/the-christians-compass

Support the show

Share a comment

Start with a jolt of honesty: “Surely I am too stupid to be a man.” Agur’s opening line in Proverbs 30 disarms pride and sets the stage for a vivid tour through humility, desire, and the kind of wisdom you can practice on Monday morning. We unpack why reverence for God isn’t anti-intellectual; it’s the posture that makes learning possible. Those five piercing questions about who gathers the wind and establishes the earth reset our perspective and point to a wisdom that is personal, not abstract.

From there, we name the pitfalls we’re most tempted to excuse: dishonor toward parents, self-righteous posturing, quiet arrogance, and using the poor as fuel for our gain. Each one fractures relationships and clouds our judgment, and each one is painfully modern. Agur then turns our gaze to cravings that never say “enough”—the grave, the barren longing, thirsty ground, an unfed fire—and shows how greed mimics those appetites. The cure isn’t to kill desire but to order it through gratitude and clear limits.

Wonder returns with images that haunt the imagination: an eagle’s effortless path, a serpent’s precise glide, a ship carving the sea, a love that awakens the heart. Set against this beauty is a warning about denial and the fallout of untethered intimacy. To ground it all, we look to four small teachers—the ant, rock badger, locust, and lizard—each modeling preparation, placement, coordination, and persistence. Finally, we consider stately strength and why chasing the front of the line corrodes the soul, while trusting God for timing and placement brings peace and steady growth.

If you’re ready to trade restless hustle for wise ambition—and swap loud self-promotion for grounded confidence—press play. Share the moment that challenged you most, subscribe for more wisdom journeys, and leave a review so others can find the show.

The Christian's Compass is a companion study guide that corresponds to each of these lessons along The Wisdom Journey. Download a copy for free, or cover the cost of printing and shipping and we'll mail you a booklet.

Learn More: https://www.wisdomonline.org/mp/the-christians-compass

Support the show

Share a comment

Ever felt how quickly a small slight can swell into a public mess? We open Proverbs 25–29 and find a clear road map for moments like that—when to stay quiet, how to protect your name, and why private reconciliation often outperforms a courtroom victory. These chapters meet us where life actually happens: in tense conversations, fragile reputations, and the quiet tug to make ourselves look good.

We start with the surprising backstory—Hezekiah’s scribes preserving Solomon’s sayings centuries later—then move into the nitty-gritty. Solomon warns against rushing to court and urges us to settle disputes personally and quietly. He calls gossip tasty but toxic, a spark that becomes a blaze when we lend an ear. The simplest discipline? If you’re not part of the problem or the solution, step back and starve the fire. From there we turn inward: “As water reflects the face, so the heart reflects the person.” Honest self-examination, anchored in Scripture, shows what we truly love and leads us to confession and real change, where mercy waits.

We also confront pride in its many disguises—self-importance, self-promotion, and the illusion of control. Solomon cautions against boasting about tomorrow, not to kill planning but to restore humility: “If the Lord wills” is a posture, not a punchline. He pushes us to let others do the praising and reminds us that God never overlooks quiet faithfulness. The thread running through it all is integrity. Walk straight and you’ll find deliverance; twist the path and collapse can come suddenly. This conversation offers practical tools you can use today—guard your speech, pursue peace, seek counsel, confess quickly, plan humbly, and keep serving even when nobody claps.

If this resonates, follow the show, share it with a friend who needs calm wisdom for a noisy week, and leave a review with the proverb that challenged you most. Your voice helps others find a steadier path.

The Christian's Compass is a companion study guide that corresponds to each of these lessons along The Wisdom Journey. Download a copy for free, or cover the cost of printing and shipping and we'll mail you a booklet.

Learn More: https://www.wisdomonline.org/mp/the-christians-compass

Support the show

Share a comment

Wisdom doesn’t aim to make us clever; it aims to make us whole. Journeying through Proverbs 22–24, we unpack the “words of the wise” and show how ancient guardrails still protect modern lives. From boundary stones to bank accounts, from influence to appetite, these sayings meet us in ordinary choices and ask bigger questions: What lines will you honor? Who gets your compassion? What future are you actually building?

We start with the surprising power of a stone on a field’s edge and trace how integrity shows up in contracts, credit, and care for the vulnerable. God’s special concern for the fatherless and widow isn’t a footnote—it’s a moral north star. Then we turn to money’s magnetism. Hard work is good; heart-work is better. When effort slides into obsession, wealth grows wings and flies away, leaving us tired and thin. We compare short-term shine with long-term hope and offer practical ways to reset ambition without losing excellence.

Finally, we face two appetites that rarely come with warning labels: food and drink. The counsel is direct—draw hard lines with gluttony and stop admiring what makes you stumble. The sparkle in the cup becomes a sting, and self-control proves wiser than self-justification. Along the way, we contrast the soft seats of the wicked with the hard benches of the faithful and explain why the view changes when you look farther down the road. If you’ve felt pulled by envy, pressured by wealth, or dulled by habit, this conversation offers honest direction and durable hope.

If this resonated with you, follow the show, share it with a friend who values straight talk, and leave a quick review so others can find these words of the wise.

The Christian's Compass is a companion study guide that corresponds to each of these lessons along The Wisdom Journey. Download a copy for free, or cover the cost of printing and shipping and we'll mail you a booklet.

Learn More: https://www.wisdomonline.org/mp/the-christians-compass

Support the show

Share a comment

What if your interruptions are part of the plan? We open Proverbs and find a way to live that steadies the heart and sharpens the mind: commit your work to the Lord, walk humbly, and grow slow to anger. Along the way, we explore how true strength looks less like loud power and more like quiet self-control, and why the path of wisdom keeps your eyes on the ground in front of you rather than your chin in the air.

We also tackle the anxiety that swirls around politics and leadership. Proverbs 21 says God steers the hearts of rulers like water in his hand—an unsettling thought for the proud and a deep comfort for the weary. We talk about voting with conscience, praying for leaders, and refusing despair because history sits under God’s sovereignty. No office surprises him, and no headline cancels his promises.

On the ground, wisdom looks like diligent work and faithful parenting. From pushing a lawnmower or a pen to pushing through paperwork, we name the value of showing up and doing the next right thing. In the home, we face the hard truth that children carry folly that needs training and measured discipline, while remembering only God can awaken a spiritual heart. Parents guide and model; God gives new life. That balance releases false guilt and pride and keeps us steady over the long haul.

If this conversation encouraged you or gave you a practical step for your week, follow the show, share it with a friend, and leave a review telling us which proverb grounded you today.

The Christian's Compass is a companion study guide that corresponds to each of these lessons along The Wisdom Journey. Download a copy for free, or cover the cost of printing and shipping and we'll mail you a booklet.

Learn More: https://www.wisdomonline.org/mp/the-christians-compass

Support the show

Share a comment

Wisdom rarely shouts; it nudges. Stepping into Proverbs 10–15, we trade long arguments for vivid, standalone sayings that hit where life happens—conflict, choices, friendships, integrity, and prayer. We unpack why these proverbs are principles rather than promises, how Hebrew parallelism sharpens their meaning, and where their realism meets the mess of everyday decisions.

We dig into forgiveness that stops keeping score, showing how “love covers all offenses” clears the fog of resentment. From there, we explore why gentle answers can defuse tense moments without watering down truth, and how integrity brings a deep kind of security—even when the dishonest seem to win. We press on the practical: why healthy reverence for God tends to lengthen life by reducing self-inflicted harm, and how wise counsel lowers the odds of regret by widening your field of view.

Community becomes a classroom: “walk with the wise” and you borrow their judgment, their calm, and their pace. We wrestle with the pull of public opinion—when the way that “seems right” to the crowd can still end in harm—and we bring it back to prayer as relationship, not ritual. The thread through it all is speech: words that heal, guide, and protect when they’re chosen with care.

If you’re ready for wisdom that works on Monday morning, not just Sunday, this conversation offers clear steps: empty the pot of old offenses, invite counsel into your big decisions, choose friends who sharpen you, and pre‑decide to answer softly and honestly. Subscribe, share this episode with a friend who loves Proverbs, and leave a review telling us which proverb you’re putting into practice this week.

The Christian's Compass is a companion study guide that corresponds to each of these lessons along The Wisdom Journey. Download a copy for free, or cover the cost of printing and shipping and we'll mail you a booklet.

Learn More: https://www.wisdomonline.org/mp/the-christians-compass

Support the show